Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Mugged: Haitian Highlands Pic Macaya [Irving Farm]

With the recent events of Haiti, a lot of interesting relief efforts came out of the woodwork in order to provide money for the tried and trued method of sending money to charities. One such intriguing idea came from Irving Farm Coffee Company out of Millerton, NY in that they donated their profits from the sale of their Haitian Highland Pic Macaya to the Konbit Sante Earthquake Response.

Though admirable in purpose, I was curious when they sent me a bag to try if this dark roast single origin would be any good. I put it through the gauntlet of the three brewing methods of drip, french press and siphon.

French pressing first, the coffee gave a dark bitterness and a bite I would equivocate to vodka, followed by pear, black tea and small hints of ginger and licorice. The coffee was subtly bright but the darkness of the coffee dominated.

In the siphon, the brew seemed to switch up a little. The coffee had more of the dark bitterness in the middle, with initiating flavors tasting of pear and nutmeg as well as a bit of cocoa and shortbread developing throughout.

The drip mimicked more of the siphon, with bright notes of asian pear, the sweetness of heavy cream and similar nutmeg, all more in the front and the bitter, dark peppery flavors beginning in the middle.

The coffee underneath the very present bitterness of this coffee had lots of great flavors but it was hard to mine them apart from the darkness. While I hope that this was a worthwhile fundraiser for Irving Farm, I can't really express satisfaction with this coffee at its current roast level.